Barrick to lay off up to a third of its corporate staff: sources

By Euan Rocha

2 Min Read

TORONTO (Reuters) - Barrick Gold Corp (ABX.TO), the world's largest gold producer, is this week going to lay off up to one-third of its corporate staff from its headquarters in Toronto and a few other offices, according to two sources familiar with the situation.

The cuts were announced by Barrick's Chief Executive Jamie Sokalsky at a town hall meeting with staff in Toronto last week, said the sources, who asked not to be named as they are not officially authorized to speak about the matter.

One source said this is the first ever round of across-the- board layoffs for the company at its corporate headquarters in Toronto, as it struggles with a slumping gold price and a host of operational and regulatory issues at its mines and projects across the globe.

Barrick has over 400 people working in its corporate staff with the vast majority of those located out of Toronto, said the sources.

A spokesman for Barrick was not immediately able to comment on the matter.

The company, which has roughly 25,000 employees across the globe, is also in the process of cutting jobs at a number of its mine sites. Last week, it announced that it was cutting about 50 employees at its operations in the United States, and earlier this month it announced a few dozen cuts in Australia.